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| Perspectives on the Church from the Eyes of a Russian student |
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As a Russian student, I am finding (sometimes the hard way) that people in the church don't typically appreciate it when the church is compared to Russia - at any point in its history. Because of this, I have minimized my "Revolution Russia style" comments in referring to the much-desired revolution of passion within The Salvation Army and the Church as a whole. But right now, I can't help but to share two observations. So if you think you'll be offended by a comparison with Russia, please don't read this. If you want to be challenged (and it challenges me as I consider it and write it), go ahead and read.
Observation 1: PERSONALIZED POWER
Many political scientists who study Russia and the Soviet Union will tell you that Russia has a history of personalized power. Every single ruler of Russia - from Ancient Rus to Imperial Russia to the Soviet Union to the Russian Federation - has held personalized power. In this sense, the ruler has never been powerful because of the position he (or she) has held. The czar was never great because he was the czar (although it helped him stay in his position). Putin's power did not rest in his office as president. The rulers of Russia have become powerful because of who they are, not what they do. For this reason, there's an equally long history of upset when a new ruler comes to power. Everyone associated with the old ruler has to go. Why? Because their position was directly related to the former person in power. This has translated in various ways throughout history, but I'm sure most of you are at least slightly aware of some of the consequences of this (e.g. Stalin's purges).
So, where am I going with this? I think that in The Salvation Army we have let ourselves succumb to a type of personalized power. To maintain a greater sense of accuracy (and gentleness), I have chosen to dub it "Personalized Leadership." How often do we change our level of involvement in the corps when a corps officer moves? Officers kids, when we grow up and move away from home, do our habits of corps involvement change? WE SHOULD NOT BE MODIFYING OUR LEADERSHIP ROLES IN THE CORPS JUST BECAUSE THE PASTOR HAS CHANGED. Yes, when we move to a new corps, it may take a while to realize where we fit into our new church family. It's likely that we won't find the exact same fit we had at our last corps. Yes, when new officers come in, things change - possibly removing that local officer position that we had held. But does that give us an excuse to sit like a bump on a log? No. This problem stretches from changes in Girl Guard leaders to changes in General. Why do we feel the need to leave the Army just because a new General is at IHQ? We need to stop basing our involvement in the corps on who the corps officer is, who the General is, who makes us mad, and whether or not we agree with every decision about band formation or program format.
We should have Personalized Leadership in The Salvation Army and in the universal Church, but the personality that should be leading us is CHRIST. He is to be the Head of the Church and the head of our lives. If we are truly letting Him lead us, does it really matter who the officer is? If Jesus were your corps officer, how involved in the corps would you be?
Observation 2: NATIONALISM
Everyone loves patriotism. Even when we don't always agree with the government, we still believe (somewhere, deep down inside) that we should be patriotic and support our country. In the Olympics we cheer for the team from our native land - even if at home that athlete plays against your favorite team. Patriotism is good. It brings us solidarity; it creates a unit out of several parts.
Nationalism isn't so popular. Nationalism in it's rawest form can be dangerous (does anyone remember WWII from their high school history class?). Nationalism is like patriotism on steriods. It's not just "My country is great." It's "my country is far superior to yours, and we have the right to prove it." I'm sure we can all see how this could create some big problems (especially with international friends).
In Russia, there is a grouping of people in power (kind of like the liberals or conservatives here) who are nationalists. They are the ones who are voting for anything that "proves" that Russia can stand on its own and doesn't need outside help. They are the ones that can find justification for walking all over the ethnic minorities in Russia (and there are a lot of them). And it was the nationalists who encouraged the passing of legislation that (temporarily) prohibited the adoption of Russian orphans by non-Russians (particularly Westerners). The idea was that Russia did not need Westerners raising its children and that it kind of corrupts those kids to be raised by Americans. Problem with this? Those orphans were not being adopted by Russians, either.
The Christian Church is divided into so many denominations, because we all agree on just a few things. Generally, we've got the basics down: Jesus, God's Son, came down and lived a perfect life as a human and became the sacrifice for our sins. After that, we all seem to disagree even if just in the tiniest detail. We adhere to the denomination that most accurately represents our personal beliefs about the Bible and God's plan for our salvation. It is then that I believe we start becoming "patriotic" towards our denomination. If we had an Olympics for Christian denominations, you know I'll be cheering for The Salvation Army rowing team (please pause for a moment and picture that in full Salvation Army uniform...Ok, back to what I was saying), while many of my friends from high school would be cheering for the Southern Baptist track and field team. Unfortunately, too many of us have left patriotism for nationalism. Instead of accepting that we're all Christians, instead of accepting that Christ came to save us all, instead of choosing to build each other up - we are determined to prove that "we" in one denomination are better than "them" in another denomination. Have you noticed, even when The Salvation Army doesn't have a soup kitchen or thrift store in a community, how many Salvationists are bitter when another church is filling that need? We can't let our orphans live parentless just because we're afraid that the Southern Baptists might teach them Calvinist doctrine. If we're not going to meet a need, who are we to say that someone else shouldn't?
Along similar lines, we should not be afraid to step outside our comfortable church to reach out to others. Sometimes our church "nationalism" comes in the form of being afraid of touching those who are "unclean." Yes, The Salvation Army reaches out to the homeless, the hungry, the hurting, and the dying, but does that mean that you or I do? Nationalism not only creates but accepts and excuses the "us vs. them" mentality - whether that be between denominations or between the church and the "outside."
I believe that Christian patriotism is good. We are citizens of Heaven and should be proud of who we are in Christ. But we should not forget that we weren't always who we are now. We are really no better than the next guy, no matter who he is or what his religious (or non-religious) affiliation. We serve a God who loves the whole world, and we claim that we want to be like Him. We should be willing to step out of our comfort zones, grab a passport (figurative), and go out into all the world. And if your Methodist or Baptist brother is out in the gutter across the street ministering to the people you haven't yet reached, don't begrudge him the opportunity to serve his Master. Aren't we supposed to be working together?
Just my observations... |
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| October 27, 2008 |
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Girl, you are so good!! Well written. Good points!!
your proud mom |
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